Penn State Basketball: Mike Rhoades Explains Decision to Skip Postseason

After their upset win over Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions turned their focus to building next year's roster.

Penn State men's basketball coach Mike Rhoades reacts in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Penn State basketball’s 2024-25 season officially concluded with an 86-75 upset win over Wisconsin. By then, it was too little, too late for the Nittany Lions, who finished a rough 6-14 Big Ten campaign. Ending a lost season on a high note, Penn State decided not to take up any postseason offers.

Just weeks removed from a disappointing season, Penn State coach Mike Rhoades already has turned his focus to next season. Penn State is about to get younger, putting more weight on his last two recruiting classes. Rhoades provided some end-of-season updates, detailing how he wants to turn the page on 2024-25.

Why Penn State skipped the postseason

The Nittany Lions removed themselves from consideration for the NIT and Crown of College Basketball tournaments by Selection Sunday, putting an end to Year 2 of Rhoades’ tenure in State College. A few other prominent Big Ten squads, like Iowa and Rutgers, made the same decision. Rhoades said Wednesday that after the regular season ended, there were “initial conversations” about the postseason, but his eyes were set on next season.

“I felt it was most important for us to start moving and building for the future and developing our program the way I see fit,” Rhoades said. “We wanted to move full-speed ahead of offseason plans and building our program and our roster and going from there.”

The transfer portal opens March 24 and will be a significant period for Rhoades, who is losing five core seniors. The influx of young talent between his first two recruiting classes will be key, but the coming weeks of March and April will dictate the veteran talent Penn State can provide for center Yanic Konan Niederhauser.

Where the Nittany Lions' season went wrong

Rhoades repeatedly has taken accountability for the Nittany Lions’ poor performances throughout the season. Hindsight didn’t change that. Injuries, shaky late-game execution and a lack of shooting were easy areas of blame for Penn State’s 6-14 conference record. But Rhoades put the struggles on himself first.

“We had a lot of good moments early, and I guess a lot of expectations because of early season success. But then just too many times, the wheels [fell off], and that's on me,” Rhoades said. “I didn't feel that we had enough consistency in Big Ten play. Close doesn't count.”

Things first fell apart for Penn State after a 77-71 loss to Indiana on Jan. 5. The losses ballooned from there. By the time it fell 75-73 to Washington in mid-February, Penn State had endured a 1-11 stretch that effectively ended its postseason dreams — including the Big Ten Tournament.

“I came here to build a program that wins Big Ten games. And last year and this year, we've had moments that you can say, ‘Okay, some good things.’ But this year … too much faltering when we needed to prosper,” Rhoades said. “The reevaluation of everything we do in our program, to build this culture and to build our style of play and to build our roster and team, is going to be — really, it already has — but it's going to be evaluated to the highest level.”

Penn State lost 10 of 15 games by single digits, which may be what haunts Rhoades the most. Penn State had plenty of games within its reach with the talent to close them out but couldn’t do so.

“I've always prided myself on when games got close and they were one-, two-possession games with six minutes left, that's ours. And I didn't do a good enough job,” Rhoades said. “I didn't help our guys find ways to win those games, and there have been a lot of sleepless nights because of that.”

Building Penn State's 2025-26 roster

Barring transfer portal losses — such as guard Jahvin Carter’s departure that Rhoades confirmed — Niederhauser and guard Freddie Dilione V are the main returning pieces Penn State is set to build around. For the most part, young players will be more essential. 

Hudson Ward, Miles Goodman and Kayden Mingo, Rhoades’ top 2025 recruit, could have routes to consistent minutes. Retaining key returners though, like Niederhauser, is a major part of the puzzle in the current age of college basketball. 

“At this time of the year, it's just not recruiting guys that are out there, high school kids and kids in the portal. It's having great conversations with your players, making sure as you move forward, everybody's on the same page,” Rhoades said. “It's a free-for-all. That's just how it is.”

Penn State is jumping from the end of the regular season right into offseason development, Rhoades said, as it attempts to learn from its mistakes. He will seek to land impact players in the portal who can help the Nittany Lions win the matchups they would have lost in 2024-25, with size and shooting being Rhoades’ priorities.

“We need size. … I think that's really important. We can still play the style that I want to play, being bigger and stronger and taller and [with] more girth, so that's huge,” Rhoades said. “We want to make sure we’re getting guys that can shoot the ball in at a high clip, for sure. So those are the things we're hitting hard.”

Ultimately, Rhoades is still on the same mission he brought to Penn State: Making the program a prominent power in the Big Ten. There have been setbacks in the past few months, but Rhoades remains passionate about fans believing in his program and its direction.

“When you go through the ups and downs of it, you find out who's really on with you,” Rhoades said. “I want our fans to be pissed when we lose a game that we should have won. I want them to be pissed like I am, but I want them coming back wanting more … That's how you build it with high expectations.”

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